Day 25 & 26 – Renault India Diamond Trail – Siliguri to Lucknow

With the drive through North East wrapped, we headed onto the plains, towards India’s heartland. Uttar Pradesh is the most populated state in India and Bihar too isn’t far behind in this regard. And this is quite evident on the roads as this part of the country has some of the most chaotic and congested traffic. However our daily ritual of starting early in the morning helped us get through the peak hour rush in many places.

The drive from Siliguri to Muzaffarpur had us go past tea estates yet again. And we always look forward to driving through these vast lush green farms as it makes for a relaxing journey, especially after tackling the terrifying terrains near Kibithu and dodging stray cattle in Assam. Entering Muzaffarpur left us baffled. We were in another chaotic town after Siliguri and there were no safe places for our cars. After hunting for a few hotels with a private car parking area, we finally found one and got ourselves a peaceful sleep that night.

The following morning we headed to Lucknow. On our way we stopped by some litchi farms. One would see plenty of road side vendors selling good quality litchi at dirt cheap rates. We soon found a trail that took us inside a litchi farm and it left us quite surprised as it was a massive ground filled with litchi trees! After satiating this vitamin c rich fruit and having it as our breakfast (we couldn’t find a decent restaurant/dhaba on this stretch) we headed towards the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

Next stop is Lucknow following which we will have a crew change in Delhi.